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- #21
CoopBoots
Crowing
- Aug 31, 2022
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2/27 Updates:
I'm broody. No, not any of my hens or pullets unfortunately, just me lol. But I can't sit on eggs so I need a chicken to pick up what I'm laying down, here!
What I've done so far:
1. Filled a nestbox with porcelain and plastic Easter eggs
2. Started separating my problem cockerel who is invited to dinner for stressing my girls!! No one is going to choose to brood under his reign of terror
3. Began spying on my usually broody hen, Daisy, to thieve and hoard her eggs until someone decides to sit. I always choose eggs to set AFTER she is committed, which means she's probably never had one of her own in a clutch. Hopefully I get the timing right and have a decent clutch ready about the time she normally decides she's laid enough to sit...
4. Just in case I need more eggs, Circle is getting semi-regular visits with the Leggington crossbred group. Those girls wander so I can't really guarantee he'd be the father, but I can up his chances at least.
Main goal is to reproduce the broody traits Daisy carries by whatever means necessary. She's showing faint signs of broodiness at the moment, like screaming at other hens if they approach her nestbox while she's busy, and she's loudly complaining every time someone sits in "her" nestbox where she usually hatches. She also took about two hours to lay and spent 45 minutes after sitting on the eggs. A good sign, I hope, as she's healthy and active at all other times.
Marshmallow, however, is also frequenting the nestboxes outside of laying time and making extra visits just to just sit her fluffy butt on all those fake eggs. It is really amusing to see her lovingly tucking in a bunch of shiny, Lisa-Frank colored, plastic Easter eggs. But she is half Leghorn, skinny as a rail, and not very high in the pecking order. I doubt she could compete with someone higher rank, like Daisy, in a communal nest site. Not even sure how many eggs she could cover. But I'd let her take her shot if she chooses.
Fingers crossed SOMEONE decides to sit, soon! I really don't want to try integrating chicks without a momma hen to assist.
I'm broody. No, not any of my hens or pullets unfortunately, just me lol. But I can't sit on eggs so I need a chicken to pick up what I'm laying down, here!
What I've done so far:
1. Filled a nestbox with porcelain and plastic Easter eggs
2. Started separating my problem cockerel who is invited to dinner for stressing my girls!! No one is going to choose to brood under his reign of terror
3. Began spying on my usually broody hen, Daisy, to thieve and hoard her eggs until someone decides to sit. I always choose eggs to set AFTER she is committed, which means she's probably never had one of her own in a clutch. Hopefully I get the timing right and have a decent clutch ready about the time she normally decides she's laid enough to sit...
4. Just in case I need more eggs, Circle is getting semi-regular visits with the Leggington crossbred group. Those girls wander so I can't really guarantee he'd be the father, but I can up his chances at least.
Main goal is to reproduce the broody traits Daisy carries by whatever means necessary. She's showing faint signs of broodiness at the moment, like screaming at other hens if they approach her nestbox while she's busy, and she's loudly complaining every time someone sits in "her" nestbox where she usually hatches. She also took about two hours to lay and spent 45 minutes after sitting on the eggs. A good sign, I hope, as she's healthy and active at all other times.
Marshmallow, however, is also frequenting the nestboxes outside of laying time and making extra visits just to just sit her fluffy butt on all those fake eggs. It is really amusing to see her lovingly tucking in a bunch of shiny, Lisa-Frank colored, plastic Easter eggs. But she is half Leghorn, skinny as a rail, and not very high in the pecking order. I doubt she could compete with someone higher rank, like Daisy, in a communal nest site. Not even sure how many eggs she could cover. But I'd let her take her shot if she chooses.
Fingers crossed SOMEONE decides to sit, soon! I really don't want to try integrating chicks without a momma hen to assist.
